In My Country takes a hugely interesting, complex topic - South Africa's truth and reconciliation commission, and pushes it into the background of a rather formulaic and morally dubious love story between two reporters. The characterisation of the both Afrikaaners and the black South Africans is wooden and at times one-dimensional. The word Ubuntu is bandied around but I didn't think the film explored the concept as well as it could have done, I certainly didn't come away from it with a feeling I understood the idea. To my mind Red Dust is the better film, with a much greater depth in terms of plot.
On the plus side the score of In My Country is very good, senzenina is a haunting theme throughout the whole film, the ambiguity over whether it refers to the actions of the apartheid government or the release of so many of those who committed those acts is very interesting.
On the plus side the score of In My Country is very good, senzenina is a haunting theme throughout the whole film, the ambiguity over whether it refers to the actions of the apartheid government or the release of so many of those who committed those acts is very interesting.